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Within This Frame by Lindy Zart

Blurb: It comes in the mail—a beautiful invitation that promises humiliation and horror. Unless Maggie Smiley, former child celebrity and now overweight recluse, gets her courage and motivation in check, along with her health.

The phone call offering fitness expert Lance Denton a chance to work with Maggie Smiley promises retribution. He messed up a lot as a punk kid on the too-fast road to stardom, and how he treated his co-star never left him. It is that—and a long list of secrets she doesn’t need to know—that has him show up at Maggie’s doorstep.

Favorite Quote:

He’d felt compelled, spellbound, as if kissing her was the only thing he knew how to do, and not doing so would be detrimental.

3 stars

First off, this book was very confusing. They both had psychological issues but instead of getting help from a professional, they both decided to cope with them in a physical way. That totally through me for a loop. Like how can you deal with an eating disorder or body dysmorphic disorder by getting a personal trainer? I was pretty flabbergasted when I read that.

And I didn’t understand why she needed a live-in personal trainer to lose a few pounds. It just seemed a bit over the top and honestly like a weak reason to get them in each others lives again.

I did enjoy the switch between past and present perspectives and the added POV of Lance from the past was a nice touch. Although the present chemistry was harder to see and follow because I never really knew how he felt. His actions didn’t jive with what was implied. I was confused whenever they had any ‘moments’. I never truly felt the chemistry between them as adults. It felt very mental and my mind kept getting pulled out of the story because I kept wondering why they were so focused on their physical appearences.

And I couldn’t relate to the female lead. She seemed very self-absorbed and emotionally immature. Everything seemed to be ‘poor me, what am I gonna do’ And she was so stubborn she didn’t even want to take the help that was offered even thought she asked for it in the first place! It just got…tiring to keep reading about. By the time her character evolved it was too late for me.

I would have loved to have read only about their past. That would have been a great book. The present just focused on too many little things.